Larter, Binns at Canada Cup

Island speed skaters Jenna Larter and Andrew Binns are flying the P.E.I. flag at the Short Track Canada Cup 1 speed skating competition this weekend in Sherbrooke, Que.

The Speed Skate P.E.I. members will be among fields of 60 male and 60 female athletes competing at the national event. The Canada Cup is the primary qualifying event for the Canadian Junior Short Track Championships to be held in Calgary later this fall.

Larter will be making her second Canada Cup appearance and enters the competition seeded 21st among the elite group of 57 junior and three senior female skaters. The 17-year-old Brookfield native is now training at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, where she recently notched the fastest ever times by an Island female in the short track 1,500- and 777metre distances.

Binns secured his Canada Cup invite on the Quebec circuit earlier this fall and will be making his debut at the national event, seeded 38th among junior skaters and 53rdoverall among male competitors. The Stratford skater, also 17, has been training at the Canadian Regional Training Centre (CRCE) in Montreal since early July.

Both Islanders will be looking to earn their first berths in the Canadian Junior Short Track Championships, which will feature the top 32 junior male and junior female skaters from across the country.

Canada Cup competition began Friday with the 1,500-metre event, followed by 500-metre racing today and the 1,000-metre on Sunday. Live streaming and results can be found at https://speedskating.ca/events/shorttrack-canada-cup-1.